


Back From The Dead

by Asmadasa_Hatter



Category: The New Legends of Monkey (TV)
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28628679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asmadasa_Hatter/pseuds/Asmadasa_Hatter
Summary: "You love me," He reiterates softly, his brow furrowed as if he can't seem to fathom it as he shakes his head, "Why?" Yet another unrepentant Tripkey oneshot. Post Series 3 reunion fic so naturally there's some spoilers for series 2. Fluff and lots of it. TripitakaXMonkeyKing
Relationships: Monkey King & Tripitaka (The New Legends of Monkey), Monkey King/Tripitaka (The New Legends of Monkey)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	Back From The Dead

"I knew you'd find a way."

Tripitaka stills and curiously turns a glance over her shoulder. The Monkey King stood paused in the middle of the road for a time before he slowly meanders forward to meet her.

"A way to what?"

"To bring me back."

She goes quiet at the recollection. Her eyes defaulting to the horizon behind his shoulder as she takes a breath and wills the remembered ache in her heart away with the help of his reassuring, albeit smugly smirking presence before her.

"You knew I'd use the scrolls." She replies matter-of-factly. His eyes dancing with something she can't quite place as she chances a glance up at him.

"I had a feeling, yea."

"Hmmm you had a feeling, did you?" She snorts somewhat in amusement and resumes her casual pace, "Since when do you have feelings about anything?"

"Hey, I can be deep," He objects, following after her with a scowl, "I'll have you know I have a lot of feelings about a great many things."

"I'm sure you do, Monkey." She agrees with a lop-sided smirk at his expense. The Monkey King matching her steps as he huffs.

"I do so, but never mind that, this isn't about me," He shakes his head and waves her off, "This is about you."

"So…" Her brow furrows as she chortles in confusion, "…you had a feeling about me?"

"No, not about you," He scoffs as if it should be obvious, "…from you."

"I-" She blinks and stills to stare at the back of his head as he ambles ahead, "Wait, I'm conf-"

"I felt what you did, Trip." He elaborates quietly, a glance tossed over his shoulder that locks upon her clearly startled expression. A denial poised at the tip of her tongue.

"There's not point denying what we both know is true." He tells her quietly. His dark fathomless eyes silently watching her as he swallows and shifts somewhat uncertainly on his feet and she nods.

"So you know then?" She murmurs and he nods. A small smile curling his lip as he meets her gaze.

"Uh-huh."

It's her turn to swallows over the lump in her throat as she asks, "How?"

"This." He taps a finger against his brow.

"Your crown?" Her confusion is only more than evident as she looks between the circlet and his face, "But, I don't understand? How is that-"

"Possible? Not a clue," He whispers and sighs, "All I know is that when you used it to stop me that day, instead of pain, what I felt was, well…"

"Tell me." She ventures just as quietly.

"Love." He murmurs almost reverently as her eyes close and she promptly forgets how to breath.

"I-" She begins when she finally regains the gift of speech, "I don't know what to tell you, I-"

"Such an odd emotion, don't you think?" He muses, seemingly ignorant of her plight. His dark eyes far away in thought, "So infinitely complex yet ultimately so very simple when all is said and done."

"Simple?" She suddenly balks, effectively redrawing his attention as she quickens her pace might they catch up with the others so she can avoid him now he's aware of her feelings for him he seems determined to make light of, "Trust me, Monkey, in my experience love is far from simple."

"You know, I thought I was in love once," He offers, matching her stride, though he frowns at her sudden anger, "So blinded by it in fact I couldn't see what was right in front of my nose until it was too late."

"Story of my life too apparently." She snorts in derision.

"But with you," He breathes and stills her with a gentle hand and a curious glance, "What you feel for me, Tripitaka is-"

She groans and closes her eyes against the rejection likely to follow.

"Humbling." He replies much to her surprise. Her mouth snapping shut as she blinks and stares dumbly up at his seemingly awed expression.

"What?"

"You love me," He reiterates softly, his brow furrowed as if he can't seem to fathom it as he shakes his head, "Why?"

"Why?" She laughs because she can't help it, "Are you serious? Why do you think?"

"How should I know, that's why I asked after all," He shrugs and drops his staff into the dust and avoids her gaze, "I'm rude, thoughtless, arrogant..."

"You forgot stubborn, selfish, vain, condescending…" She crosses her arms and mutters.

"Hey!" His gaze immediately returns to her and he scowls, "That's not-"

"Argumentative," She counters with a raise of a single brow in challenge, "Not to mention you're an unrepentant show-off, a flirt-"

"Oh please," He scoffs loudly in objection, "That was one time-"

"Funny isn't it though, that despite all of these glaring flaws in an otherwise tolerable personality," She sighs and drops her arms to her sides as she holds his gaze, her expression serious, "You're still one of the greatest men I've ever had the privilege of knowing."

He opens his mouth to object only to frown, clearly perplexed at the obviously unexpected praise, "I- I am?"

"You asked me why I- why I lo-" She suddenly stumbles over the words and cringes at her inability to speak the truth he already knows. Tripitaka glancing down at her hands before finally returning her gaze to his admittedly, beloved face.

"You're strong and brave," She tells him softly, "Loyal and funny and unspeakably kind despite what you'd have the world believe. And yes, I'll admit it, you really do have great hair."

She laughs as he preens and, surprisingly enough, blushes.

"But that's not why I love you," She breathes and closes her eyes tightly, "Why I'm in love with you. Though I won't lie, that certainly helps."

She ignores his far too pleased smirk and continues.

"You annoy me and frustrate me, Monkey King," She tells him with a sudden scowl, "We bicker and disagree on most things, on everything, especially when you're being reckless. You were spurred by your own people because you are a good man and my gods it has been an uphill battle but I finally think you're starting to see your way out of that bitterness."

She watches his Adam's apple bob as he swallows and watches her with the most open expression she's ever witnessed from the man.

"I love you because you're you, Monkey," She whispers, eyes glistening, "And I'm sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but I will never be sorry for any of it."

"I'm not sorry that saving you would have cost my life if not for Gaxin. I'm not sorry that loving you is pointless because of what I am and that even if you felt just a fraction of what I do, we could never be together."

"But ultimately, I suppose, if it turns out you have a problem with anything I just said, then that's just too damn bad, because you're stuck with me."

"Is that a promise?" He interrupts her with a sniff.

"I meant it when I said I'd never leave you," She tells him with an adamant shake of her head, "I lived without you twice now, Monkey King. I'd rather die than do it again."

"I suppose that makes us even then." He acknowledges with a quiet nod.

"And I am sorry," He adds softly, "Sorry for the heartache and the pain. It wasn't easy making the choice to, well, you know. But what I did that day had to be done."

"I know," She agrees, and she does, really, "It was Shadow Monkey or the world-"

"It was Shadow Monkey or you," He corrects without preamble, "I don't owe the world a damn thing, Trip. You know that better than most."

His eyes are so open and honest as he gazes down at her. "But you…"

She shakes her head in denial, "You owe me nothing, Monkey."

"I owe you everything," He tells her honestly, "Everything I am, who I've become… all of it has been for yo-"

"Don't," She swallows, "Don't say it."

"Not saying it won't make it any less true," He scoffs, "Not unless flying myself into a sun to save your life strikes you as subtle."

"Hmmm, not word I'd use for it, no."

"Then like I said," He mumbles almost shyly, "We're even."

She hardly knows what to say to that. Hope waring with the confusion clearly writ across her face.

"So- where does that leave us-?"

His sudden movement startles her. His soft and eager lips deftly capturing her surprised little gasp as he gently lifts her chin. Everything but the two of them in that moment falling away and instantly she melts against him. An arm wrapped carefully about her middle the only thing holding her upright as her legs promptly turn to jelly. A small, satisfied smirk twitching at the corners of the Monkey King's lips when he finally pulls away and leans in to whisper against her ear.

"Right about here wouldn't you say?" He chuckles when she shivers and nods in agreement.

"That's a dangerous game you're playing, Monkey King."

He raises a brow in challenge at that, "I'm sure I'll manage."

"Oi, you two!" The sound of Pigsy's quite obviously annoyed shout reaches them and effectively brings their little moment to an end. The pair of them turning to stare back at him with identically annoyed expression.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, you've both been dancing around each other long enough now another five minutes will hardly make a difference," He scowls, "Now if you're done playing tonsil hockey the daylight's almost gone and the firewood won't gather itself."

"Such a bitter and brutal mistress, Master Pig," Monkey remarks with a sigh, "That he'll likely one day make someone incredibly happy is totally beyond me."

"I'll tell him you said that." She teases, stepping out of his arms with a smirk and turning towards to the forest behind where their companions begun preparing their campsite for the evening.

"You wouldn't." He pales and she snickers as she disappears into the foliage. "You're not serious right, Trip? Tripitaka? Hey, Tripitaka, come on!"

He sighs as her laughter reaches his ears. A scowl upon his lips as he begrudgingly huffs after her. The insults directed at the pig god dying on his tongue as Monkey finds his breath promptly stolen from his lungs as Tripitaka's slight frame suddenly impacts against his front. His back slamming against a nearby tree, and while he'd be loathed to admit it, finds it takes almost every skill at his disposal to keep them upright with his brain effectively on hiatus as her fingers scrape along his scalp. His lips chasing hers with a mewl of protest as she reluctantly pulls away and turns her head to listen. Her brow furrowing as she meets his thoroughly dazed expression.

"Can you hear that?" She whispers against his lips.

"Huh?"

She smirks, "There's a stream just over that ridge, Monkey. Can you hear it?"

"A stream?" He murmurs, brow furrowing somewhat at the single brow she raises in response. His higher brain function returning just enough to allow realisation to dawn and promptly he sets her down and begins piling firewood into his arms at a furious pace. Tripitaka's expression somewhat bemused as she watches on.

"Well don't just stand there." He gapes, earning himself a chortle from the woman who blushes and offers him a small nod before slowly turning to make her way through the undergrowth as he resumes his mad forage.

Ten minutes later Pigsy startles at the towering pile of kindling and logs suddenly dumped at his side. His gaze sliding from the vegetables on his cutting board to the clearly impatient Monkey King who nods toward the excessive offering.

"That about do it then?"

"Yea," Pigsy replies, eyes narrowing in suspicion at the deity who shifts awkwardly from foot to foott, "Thanks for that."

"No problem." Monkey nods, slowly backing away in what he clearly hopes passes as casual, only to trip and almost stumble on a vine.

"You alright?" Pigsy ventures, "You seem a little-"

"I'm fine!"

"…distracted."

"Nope. Just peachy." Monkey squeaks before clearing his throat, "Anyway, I gotta go. Call us for dinner?"

"Yea, sure." Pigsy replies blandly, raising a brow when the Monkey King promptly disappears back into the forest. A long-suffering sigh uttered from his lips as he tosses a log atop the steadily building flames and returns to dinner with a shake of his head.

"There'll be no living with them now," He murmurs, "You realise that don't you?"

"Let them have their fun," Sandy smirks, her pale gaze shifting from the fire to the woods beyond, "Who knows how long it'll last after all. Let them be happy while they still can."

"You say that as if you expect whatever becomes of them to end in misery."

"Doesn't love always end in misery?" She queries softly. Pigsy stilling his hands as he meets her curious gaze and offers her a soft smile.

"Not always," He replies, "I have faith in them."

"Truly?"

"Those two are the most stubbornly idiotic creatures I've ever had the privilege of knowing," He admits with a bemused grin, "If anyone can make it work, or would likely die trying, it's them."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," She grins and chuckles, "The Monk and the Monkey King."

"Definitely a story for the ages." Pigsy agrees with a chortle.

"Hmmm, I wonder who she is."

"Who?" He frowns over the hot spoonful of soup he brings to his mouth, "Tripitaka?"

"She had a name long before she chose to take up the gods mantle," Sandy replies with a furrowed brow, "Though I wonder why, even after all this time she's not shared it?"

"And what of her mother," She continues, intrigued, "What sort of evils might have befallen her do you think for her to have willingly relinquished her child to the Scholars care?"

"The evils of this world are too numerous to mention, so who could say," Pigsy offers sagely, "Save the woman herself I suppose."

"Do you think she might still be alive?"

"Anything's possible." He shrugs.

"I do hope they can weather it," Sandy adds after a prolonged silence, "Whatever it might be, that is."

Pigsy starts at that, "What makes you think they won't?"

"I'm not sure," She murmurs, brow furrowing in concentration, "There's something I recall about the name, or maybe rather forgotten-"

"You mean the Scholar or Tripitaka?" Pigsy ventures with a slight chortle of amusement. His companion's eyes suddenly clouding over for a time before she shakes herself off and returns his stare with a beaming smile.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"Nothing, we were just- I-" He starts and sighs before offering her a small wistful curl of his lips, "Never mind. Could you pass the salt?"

He watches as she readily complies. His head tilted as he considers just what it might be that keeps Sandy's memories of a man long dead firmly from her grasp.

"Do you hear giggling?"

Pigsy's mind shifts to the Monkey King and the woman who each have stolen the others' heart and smiles.

"Best leave them to it eh, Sandy."

"Oh?" She turns a curious look upon him before her eyes suddenly widen in realisation, "Oh…"

He thinks of himself then and the woman sat before him and everything they've seen and done before finally praying with everything he has to any higher being that might be listening that in the end, after all is said and done, they might all just survive this perilously paved road to the west, with their hearts and minds intact.

**Author's Note:**

> Argh I just can't stop! All the feels.


End file.
